The transmission of touch between two or more individuals or objects over distance has a multitude of uses within home, health care, commercial, and industrial settings. Mandayam A Srinivasan, Director Laboratory for Human and Machine Haptics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has described the field of haptic technologies (touch technologies) as being divisible into three basic segments, namely:                Human haptics—the study of human sensing and manipulation through touch,        Machine haptics—the design, construction, and use of machines to replace or augment human touch.        Computer haptics—algorithms and software associated with generating and rendering the touch and feel of virtual objects (analogous to computer graphics).        
With the growth and ability to process and transmit information faster, the potential for commercializing haptic technologies has expanded. Haptic or kinesthetic communications with force feedback systems have included various forms of tactile communication including vibratory, translation, or pressurization. Commercial products that have included these systems include video games, mobile devices, medical equipment, airplanes, and robotics.
Sensory touch comes from a multitude of inputs including skin. The skin as well as underlying fat and bones in the body may provide input to the sensory touch. Haptic communications with hands are very complex. For example, hands may detect and communicate surface texture, grip, softness, humidity, vibrational movements, and chemistry such as salinity, temperature. Vibrational movements may include small vibrational movements (for example, on the scale of about 0 mm to about 0.5 mm), small motions (for example, from 0.5 mm to about 10 mm) and large motions (for example, motions greater than about 10 mm).
In the prior art, devices have been created that allow for the transmission of various degrees of motions. However, prior art devices do not allow for the combined transmission of touch through the gradations of scale. As such, the creation of a device that easily transmits all forms of haptic communications and is easily manufactured for general use has not been accomplished thus far.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,225 by Shannon describes a tactile grip communication device intended for individuals who are deaf and wherein a closed loop communication is established over telephone lines for converting an electrical signal to a pressurized medium. As an individual squeezes or pushes said devices, the pressure is converted to an electrical signal which is then transmitted to the secondary device and a response signal is returned based on the pressure exerted by the secondary device to create equilibrium. This single device can only transmit sensation to the entire hand and cannot therefore transmit the sensory details that multiple miniature devices could transmit.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,378,797 by Pance et al. describes a vibrational localized haptic device which includes multiple vibrational actuators. While vibration can simulate the sensation of delicate touch, it cannot transmit the associated feelings of grasping or of larger motions on the scales of 0.5-20 mm. Further, translational larger movements cannot be duplicated with such a system.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,035,899 by Modarres et al describes a piezo electric haptic device wherein the piezoelectric is embedded within a polymer matrix to create texture. The creation of a texture for haptics has tremendous value but does allow for the transmission of larger scale movements on the order of 0.5-20 mm as well as other sensory qualities such as softness, humidity, chemistry such as salinity, and temperature as the polymer matrix embeds the entirety of the actuator.
Daniel Leithinger, Sean Follmer, and Hiroshi Ishii at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a haptic pin pad device that use electromechanical means of moving large block pins based on three dimensional computation and detection. The system is not collinear with respect to the actuator system and the pins and thus has a large footprint which would not be easily manufactured into a consumer device.